Kindergarten

I loved kindergarten. My teacher let us call her Mary Ann, we sat on colored stripes on the carpet rather than in desks, there was a water table to splash in, and one time we actually made green eggs and ham.

There were only 2 things I didn't like:

First: there was a tooth-tree, so when anyone lost a tooth they got to write their name on paper tooth and hang it on the tree for everyone to see. I didn't lose a single tooth that year so I was the only kid unrepresented on that stupid little shrub.

Second: On a letter-writing test I once got -1 because while making a small "b" I did the loop part directly from the bottom of the straight line instead of starting from the center of the line. I got the correct end result, but apparently the process mattered. Hmph. If only she could see my b's now!

My best friend was Haley Baxter. We were like two peas in a pod. One of our favorite things to do was to trap this boy named Kyle by charging in to sit on either side of him on the floor. He was cute, and as far as we knew, that was the appropriate course of action. Ah, to be 5 again... I decided way back then that if I ever have a daughter her name will be Haley, in honor of my dear friend.

Seth was in second grade at this time, and one of my few memories of recess was me getting mad at him and his buddies, and kicking them where it counts. I had to sit in time out, but I felt it was justified. Sorry Seth.

In the picture above, my hair was crimped (thanks Dad), a huge departure from my normally straight and somewhat snarly style, and that t-shirt was from the Saturday Market in Eugene. It was my favorite shirt, and I probably wore it everyday. Kids are like that.